A 3-year-old boy was killed in what Alameda County officials are calling the worst case of child abuse they've ever seen. Chazarus Hill was allegedly killed Saturday by his father, Chazarus Hill Sr., who admitted his involvement and was arrested for investigation of murder. The two were playing flashcards and the boy's punishment for wrong answers were a fist, a belt and whittled sticks. Pathologists at the Alameda County Coroner's Office agreed the boy died from abusive injuries that left the child bruised from head to toe. The death brings Oakland's homicide count for 2003 to 94 ; 9/22/03 in . / KPIX less

A 3-year-old boy was killed in what Alameda County officials are calling the worst case of child abuse they've ever seen. Chazarus Hill was allegedly killed Saturday by his father, Chazarus Hill Sr., who ... more

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A 3-year-old boy was killed in what Alameda County officials are calling the worst case of child abuse they've ever seen. Chazarus Hill was allegedly killed Saturday by his father, Chazarus Hill Sr., who admitted his involvement and was arrested for investigation of murder. The two were playing flashcards and the boy's punishment for wrong answers were a fist, a belt and whittled sticks. Pathologists at the Alameda County Coroner's Office agreed the boy died from abusive injuries that left the child bruised from head to toe. The death brings Oakland's homicide count for 2003 to 94 ; 9/22/03 in . / KPIX less

A 3-year-old boy was killed in what Alameda County officials are calling the worst case of child abuse they've ever seen. Chazarus Hill was allegedly killed Saturday by his father, Chazarus Hill Sr., who ... more

Photo: N

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Oakland dad found guilty in death of son, 3

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2007-01-16 12:26:00 PST OAKLAND -- An Oakland man was convicted today of involuntary manslaughter in the 2003 death of his 3-year-old son, who was beaten for wetting the bed and making mistakes while identifying numbers and letters on flash cards.

Chazarus Hill Sr., 27, showed no visible reaction when the verdict was read shortly after 10 a.m. today in an Oakland courtroom.

The murder charge was the last to be decided by the jury of eight women and four men, which on Dec. 21 had convicted Hill of assault causing death and child abuse in connection with the death of his son, Chazarus "Cha Cha" Hill Jr.

"I'm glad we got some closure," said Deputy District Attorney Darryl Stallworth, who had argued that the case was one of murder but said that he respected the jury's verdict.

"You can't bring this kid's life back," Stallworth said. "The pain that this caused for everybody involved will always be there, particularly with (the boy's) mother and grandmother."

Hill's attorney, William Daley, said of the verdict, "I think it was appropriate. These are always tough cases, but murder requires malice, which is either an actual intent to kill, or what's called conscious disregard. We're dealing with a man and his son. I don't think he ever intended to kill or intentionally disregard the danger to his son.

"This was a very intelligent jury," he added. "I think they had the ability to accept the emotion and deal with the law as it states, even though there's an emotional push to go elsewhere."

The boy died Sept. 20, 2003, of multiple injuries, including a blood clot in the brain. During the trial, Hill testified that he never intended to kill his son.

But Stallworth told jurors that Hill repeatedly used a belt, his fists and switches to assault his son.

The assaults occurred repeatedly in the weeks before doctors at San Leandro Hospital pronounced the 40-pound toddler dead on Sept. 20, 2003, police said.

Instead of putting the boy to bed at night, "the defendant put him in a casket," Stallworth said.

Daley said the case "deals with, in an extreme way, the discipline of children" that went "horribly awry." Hill, who had limited education, disciplined his son in the only way he knew how, the defense attorney said: by observing how parents around him treated their children.

In response, Stallworth said it was insulting to suggest that only people with formal training would know not to beat a child.

According to Stallworth, Hill spoke to police investigating the case in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, "as if he was going over his taxes," the prosecutor said. Hill's attorney countered that his client had been in shock and hadn't gotten much sleep after being arrested.

Witnesses testified that the boy came up to them when he wasn't with his father, telling them, "My daddy punched me," and "Shh, my dad hurt me, don't tell anybody," Stallworth said.

In the weeks before the boy died, neighbor Cheryl Calhoun hugged him, but he "grimaced with both his arms" and "walked like an old man" because his legs had been beaten, the prosecutor said.

According to Stallworth, Hill spanked the boy whenever he misidentified numbers and letters on flash cards and when he wet the bed. Among the evidence shown to the jury were switches, belts and flash cards that police seized from Hill's home.

Stallworth said the assaults occurred repeatedly in the last month of Cha Cha's life, in what the prosecutor called "30 days of hell."

His attorney said Hill, who testified on his own behalf, had been "straightforward and honest on a lot of things" on the stand.

Hill said he had never intended to kill his son, Daley said. The defense attorney questioned whether some of the injuries could have been inflicted by Kymberly Ford, Cha Cha's stepmother, when Ford was alone with the boy.

Ford, who also testified in the trial, was released from prison more than a month ago after serving part of a four-year sentence on a child-abuse charge for allowing the assaults to occur.

Authorities said Hill had beaten his son at their home on Modesto Avenue near Mills College, at Arroyo Viejo Park in East Oakland and at the home of Ford's mother on Lark Street in San Leandro in the days before Cha Cha died.

After Ford told Hill that she was done with their relationship, an enraged Hill said, "If you leave, I'm going to f him up," the prosecutor said.